


Lessons

by water_bby



Category: Naruto
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Kid Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-21
Updated: 2014-07-21
Packaged: 2018-02-09 21:12:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1997985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/water_bby/pseuds/water_bby
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What do you do with an eight-year-old chuunin with a Sharingan eye?</p><p><b>Prompt/Scenario:</b> #49 by pastles: Kakashi gets hit by a jutsu and becomes a child, with all his bossy, bratty attitude from way before. He gets placed in Iruka's class.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lessons

Kakashi's day started the way most days started on a mission, hunkered down over a small fire holding a steaming cup of tea while the rest of his squad settled in to receive instructions. Today they would finally deal with their target, a nin of middling power who was reported to have a forbidden scroll in her possession. They weren't clear on what jutsu the scroll contained, but from observations over the last two days, the nin hadn't figured it out yet, either. One day to finish the mission, one day to return to the village and finish reporting in, so two days, and he'd be back home with Iruka.

The plan was simple--two in the back door, two in the front, overpower the target, retrieve the scroll and, if possible, the target. So, of course, when Kakashi and Gai burst in through the front door, the target yelped, grabbed the scroll, and started chanting. Kakashi reached her first, aiming a killing blow while at the same time registering the hand signs for a diminishing jutsu and that she was counting.

His blow landed as she reached eighteen, stopping both the count and the hand signs. As her body fell, a green light sparked from her fingers to Kakashi, and then he was falling, too.

When Gai reached his fallen captain, the Anbu armor no longer fit, pieces hanging from limbs that were now shorter and thinner than they had been only minutes ago. Well, apparently, this particular forbidden scroll contained a de-aging jutsu, and now his captain had been turned into a child. He quickly set the other two members of the squad to gathering the scroll and disposing of the body and other evidence while he made sure Kakashi was only de-aged and not otherwise injured, stripped him of the Anbu armor and mask, and covered the Sharingan eye.

Within an hour, they were on their way back to Konoha, planning to run through the night, if possible, so as to get the scroll and Kakashi to the village as soon as possible. They took turns carrying the sleeping child, pausing occasionally to renew the jutsu that kept him asleep. None of them wanted to deal with him when he woke up. The first time, when Kakashi had looked at Gai, and said, "You look like Gai- _kun_ from the Academy," had been more than enough.

* * *

Iruka awoke two days later to an empty apartment and a stack of mostly graded scrolls. He groaned as he rolled out of bed, only becoming aware as he did so that he'd half-expected Kakashi to appear sometime during the night. He'd have to watch out for that sort of expectation, he berated himself while pouring water over tea leaves. Kakashi would be home when he was home, and worrying would not make him come home any faster. Iruka remembered his father telling him that when he was maybe four years old, whining about when his mother would be home again. On this morning, he felt particularly close to his chuunin father. Why, he even would be spending his day raising ninja kids! And on that thought, he took his first cup of tea to the table to finish grading the last three scrolls. At least they should be fairly quick to finish, since he'd saved two of his best students' and Naruto's, which was at least half blank.

He'd barely finished his grading, and his second cup of tea, when there was a loud knocking on his front door. Sighing, he went to answer it, sure that this was not a good start to his day. He didn't change his mind when the knocker turned out to be Kakashi's friend Gai, who simply said, in a much quieter volume than Iruka was accustomed to hearing from him, "Kakashi's at the Tower. The Hokage wishes to speak with you."

"Will I be back before the Academy starts for the day?"

Gai paused a moment before answering, "Better bring anything you'll need with you."

Worrying wouldn't make Kakashi come home any faster, but Iruka thought his father would agree that worry was perfectly acceptable right now. And he stuffed the students' scrolls and the day's lesson plan into his satchel before joining Gai in a dash across the roof tops.

When they reached the Tower, Gai led Iruka directly to the Hokage's office, where the Sandaime smiled at them, offered Iruka a cup of tea, and cast a particularly strong soundproofing jutsu. Kakashi was nowhere in sight.

"Are you loyal to your village, Umino Iruka?" the Sandaime asked.

"Yes, Hokage- _sama_."

"Do you know anything about Hatake Kakashi's latest mission?"

"Only that he left nearly a week ago, Hokage- _sama_. He does not discuss his missions with me beyond telling me if he will be away from the apartment." Not necessarily away from the village, Iruka knew, and not necessarily even on a mission, but whether Iruka should expect him home that night. "We never discuss how long he'll be away." And Iruka strongly suspected that the tea contained something to encourage his truthfulness. What had Kakashi gotten himself into?

The Sandaime smiled at him. "You will never speak of what you are about to learn to anyone. You will not even tell Kakashi."

"As you command, Hokage- _sama_."

The story the Hokage and Gai told was fantastical. An Anbu squad (oh, gods, Iruka thought, that won't make it easier not to worry when he's away) retrieving a forbidden scroll when their captain (pride and fear in about equal measure) was hit by a jutsu from the scroll that changed him into a child.

"From what we've been able to determine since they returned yesterday, the nin who stole the scroll was attempting to adjust the jutsu so she could reduce her physical age while maintaining her mental age. But as it stands, it reduces the object of the jutsu in age by the number of years chosen by the caster, with mental age reduced as well, but the body retaining any change."

"Meaning?" Iruka asked.

"Meaning Kakashi is indeed as he was when he was eight, but with all the scars he has acquired in the intervening eighteen years."

Iruka thought about that for a moment. "So you have an eight-year-old chuunin with a Sharingan eye?"

The Hokage smiled grimly. "Exactly. And one who thinks we're in the middle of a war and who wants to get back out to his squad leader, the Yellow Flash."

Oh. Iruka hadn't thought of that. "We don't want him to know that he was de-aged, then?"

"No. But we also don't want to keep him under a sleeping jutsu nor can we have him underfoot any longer. If he stays here another day, he'll figure it out. We believe we'll be ready to reverse the jutsu by this evening, so you just need to keep him occupied for today."

Iruka nodded. How was he supposed to do that?

"Remember, Iruka- _sensei_ ," Gai spoke for the first time since this discussion had started, "that Kakashi- _san_ graduated when he was five. He won't know your students aren't his contemporaries."

Iruka swallowed. They were honestly suggesting that he take an eight-year-old Hatake Kakashi to school? What kind of mayhem would that be? As he opened his mouth to say something, though he wasn't sure what he would say, a brisk knock sounded at the door. The Hokage removed the extra soundproofing and called for the person to enter, and Iruka saw Kakashi for the first time in days.

* * *

Kakashi stared at the older chuunin's back as they hurried toward the Academy. They had met in the Hokage's office only a few minutes ago, and both the Hokage and the Anbu who must be Gai's uncle seemed to trust him, but Kakashi had the sense that something wasn't quite right about the man. Of course, Kakashi had the sense that something wasn't quite right about much of anything. He had slept away too much of yesterday, and while the medi-nins insisted that he had sustained an injury to his left eye in battle and so it was tightly bandaged, he didn't feel any pain from that eye. He'd wondered whether he might be trapped in a genjutsu, but performing the release multiple times hadn't changed anything. He didn't remember being injured, he didn't remember being in a battle, and he didn't remember ever meeting this Umino Iruka before. And where was _Sensei_?

However, the Hokage had given him orders to perform a review of the Academy's review process, which apparently involved various senior teachers observing classroom activities. Kakashi would perform his task to the best of his ability, even if it required leaving off his mask and using a fake name. He'd argued that he would still be recognized, but the Hokage had insisted no one at the Academy would connect him to his father.

He found himself escaping to a back corner of the classroom as soon as he was introduced, already mentally composing his report to the Hokage. He couldn't say anything about the review process yet, but it was clear why Umino was here at the Academy rather than on the battlefield--he let the pre-genins chat among themselves before the bell rang rather than insisting on a dignified silence, he apparently let them choose their own seats rather than assigning seats, and he wasn't paying any attention to the class while he was making notes on the board, which meant some of the students were passing notes or otherwise not paying attention. Kakashi found himself wondering if he was actually here to report on Umino. And then one of the more daring students pitched a wad of paper at Umino's turned head. Kakashi wondered if he should do something when Umino reached out with the hand that he was not writing with and batted the paper ball right back at the culprit, hitting him in the middle of the forehead, while continuing to finish writing on the board.

When he turned back to the class, every single student, including Kakashi, was staring at him. Kakashi thought perhaps Umino knew more than Kakashi thought he did; after all, _Sensei_ was not always the most rule-abiding of nins. Kakashi would deny that he was relieved that the review committee arrived at that moment, but he knew he felt better continuing with his mission rather than examining that thought.

By the end of the day, Kakashi had a new appreciation for what he'd missed by graduating in a single year. Some of these pre-genin were impossible. The one who looked rather like _Sensei_ , for example, was perhaps the most fumble-fingered person he'd ever seen. Naruto clearly had the desire, but Kakashi wondered if he would ever manage to make a genin, much less a higher rank. He'd thought Umino had taken an easy assignment, but watching how bad the aim of most of the class was during kunai practice had been enlightening. He couldn't say much for the review process, but he could commend Umino.

When they returned to the Tower, Kakashi led the way. He wondered if the other chuunin would be present at the debriefing, and thought about whether he'd adapt his report depending on whether the man was present or not, but he was met by an Anbu guard who ordered him to attend the Hokage in one of the little used rooms below ground. As he followed the Anbu, he glanced back at Umino, who was simply watching Kakashi walk away. Once again, he wondered what everyone else seemed to know that he didn't.

* * *

Kakashi's next day started the way far too many days did after a mission--lying in a bed feeling wrung out. This time, it didn't seem to be from chakra depletion, at least. He tried to remember anything beyond the counter attack from the nin his squad had been pursuing, but there was a blank. He blinked his good eye open, noting that Gai, unsurprisingly, was in the one of the visitor's chairs. The other, surprisingly, was occupied by a sleeping Iruka. Why would Iruka be in what had to be one of the rooms set aside for Anbu use?

He didn't get a satisfactory answer: not then, and not when the medi-nin declared him fit to go home, and not when the Hokage visited to discuss the mission. The best he could piece together was that he had been hit by the diminishing jutsu and the resulting trauma meant he was missing some three days. No one ever explained why the Hokage had called in Iruka, just as no one ever explained what happened during those three days.

* * *

When Iruka woke the morning after that, his bed was warm, his stack of ungraded scrolls was higher than he'd have really liked, and it was his day off, so he rolled over to bury his nose in Kakashi's back and let himself fall back asleep.

**Author's Note:**

> Remember to leave a comment below, or at the [LJ post](http://kakairu-fest.livejournal.com/127319.html?mode=reply#add_comment)!


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